The Party - cont'd

We arrived at the party room early to take some pictures before everyone else arrived.

Proud Mommy with her little Princess.

Hugs from Daddy

Snuggle with Buppa

Just plain cute with Amma

Mommy working hard in the kitchen stopped for a pic with Amma

Soon the main attraction arrive...a real live Princess.  Yes, Sleeping Beauty, in person, arrived to spend some time with all the little girls at the party.   As you can see, she also brought along her special party totes full of surprises for the girls.

This Princess didn't pay any attention to our cameras, she focused in on the girls only, and let the other activities happening around them in the room, go on without a blink from her. 

Danica was enthralled with Sleeping Beauty.  Here she is getting a Happy Birthday hug from her favorite Princess.

The Princess included all the little girls in her talks, but she mainly spoke directly to Danica. She gave Dani all sorts of extra attention as it was her BD celebration.

Sleeping Beauty soon got into her bag of treats, and the girls waited in excited anticipation to see what she had hidden there.

No words needed here. 

The first thing to come out of the magic bag, was a book.  Before the story began, Sleeping Beauty asked each  little girl what their favorite book was.   Here she is asking Danica.  Danica thought for a moment and then said "Right now my favorite book is the dictionary.  I enjoy reading about the meaning of all sorts of different words."  I bet that is the first time Sleeping Beauty ever got that answer to this question at a party for 7 year olds.

All the other little girls had a chance to answer the question too.

Some little girls wandered over to the snack table from time to time...

But most of the time they sat paying close attention to the Princess.

After stories and other activities each little girl could choose a princess dress of their very own to wear for a while.

Then it was time for a break to get a snack and wander around for a bit.

Next came the princess make-up. 

The smile when Danica saw herself in the magic mirror tells it all.  She was over the moon pleased.

We left after this point in the party, and it went on for another hour or more.  Sorry we don't have any pictures of the music play, or Danica getting her special Princess tiara and certificate proclaiming her an official Princess.  The fun just never stopped for these little girls.  Mommy was a bit knackered when she got home though. 

The Party

Danica wanted to invite every little girl in her class at school to her birthday party so no one would feel left out.  Space at home would be a problem with that plan, so Mommy and Daddy rented the event room at the local grocery store, and that meant there was lots of room for everyone.   Yahoo!

A very special BD cake for a special Princess.

I think Danica was pleased with the cake.

Just outside the room was a neat view of the grocery store.

The early arrivals  lined up at the window to look for other guests arriving. 

The snack table was visited often while the girls waited for the festivities to begin. 

 What a sweet group of girls Danica has in her circle of friends at school.

Everyone was asked to sign this canvas, and draw a picture on it when they arrived. 

I love how everyone signed in a line....until this creative little girl arrived. 

I admire her creativity and unique style.  The others soon followed suit, and added colours and pictures too.

Let the party begin.....

Surprise Birthday lunch

AC and I surprised the kids at school during lunch time the other day, and took the kids out for lunch to celebrate Dani's 7th BD.   Dani got to choose the place...and of course it was McDonald's.

Buppa got a big thank you hug from the girl, and a happy smile from the boy.

Amma got a snuggle.

JJ enjoyed his dessert

Dani in the box!

After lunch, Dani took us over to the grocery store for a sneak-peek of her party room.  Both kids enjoyed the view of the parking lot from the  huge windowed wall in the room

They thought this mirror used for cooking demos was really neat.

Sweet sweet memories.

Spring colours

It's a joy to walk into the grocery store these days.  The riot of colours and the fragrance are a welcome gift to this winter weary soul.    Breathe deeply, and use your imagination to catch a whiff of the fragrance seeping out of these pics.  Enjoy. 

What's this?

AC came in from the mailbox the other day with this big padded envelope under his arm and surprised me when he said it was for me.  I was shocked.  It wasn't my birthday, no other special day had come and gone, and I hadn't ordered anything on-line.  What could it be?  I looked at the return address, and it didn't mean anything to me either.  Curiouser and curiouser!

I opened the parcel and found this beautiful hand knitted shawl inside with a little business card saying "Inspired by Life.  Created by Hand    Go....Create Something!" 

AC finally told me that this was hand made by a blog friend of his, and he knew that it was coming.  This man likes to knit, and he knew I liked shawls... so... the rest is history. 

It made my day, and warmed my heart.  Thanks Jim.  I do love capes and shawls, and will wear this one with a special joy because of its "out-of-the-blue" surprise arrival. 

Pretty nice huh?  I love it!

Waterlogged

We decided it was time to have a picnic lunch in the park, so we stopped at Tim's for coffee and a sandwich, and headed over to our favorite spot.  If the wind kicked up a fuss at the water's edge, we would sit in the car while we munched our lunch.  Oh joy, our first picnic of the year. 

What a surprise we got when we drove into our parking space and discovered the park flooded. 

The geese were having a good time, but we stayed warm and dry in the car. 

All the trees in these pictures are usually on dry ground.

This tree sits at the water's edge, not in the middle of it!  Sheesh.

Exuberance

AC brought a bouquet of tulips home from the grocery store the other day, and they have been having a party on our dining room table.

No other cut flower that I know of spreads out with quite as much exuberance as tulips.

They make me smile every time I look at them.

Sleepover fun with Danica

It was Danica's turn for a sleepover, so she came over around 4pm last weekend, and got to choose any supper she wanted. It was still cool outside, but the local chip truck opened this week, and she chose to go there for a pogo-stick and onion rings. 

The onion rings were really good, but you couldn't get me to eat a pogo stick unless I was starving. Dani enjoyed it though. 

After dinner, we came back to the house and watched a video together.  Then it was time for a story with Buppa before bedtime.

A James Herriot story with Ruth Brown illustrations was the pick of the day.

Next morning she got us up rather early, so we tried to convince her to play on her tablet while we got a few more ZZZZ's.  That only lasted for about 10 minutes, so we soon got up,  made coffee and got busy with the rest of our day,.

It was a nice sunny day, so we went out for a walk around the block before lunch. Danica met a friend from school along the way, and she joined us for a walk.

Good friends.

Before taking her back home, we stopped at Tim's for lunch.   She thought it was great fun to model Buppa's hat.

Cute huh?

What a rascal.

Busy bees

I know blogs have been scarce this past little while, but life has been busy, and time has zoomed by at break-neck speed.  How did we get to the middle of April already?  With the snow storm that blew through here yesterday, it seems like January!

Today is an at-home day, and neck pain is at a low ebb, so it seems like the perfect time to post a picture or two, and say hello. 

JJ had a sleepover a couple of weeks ago, and these first two pics are from when back then.  He did enjoy playing with Auntie Ally's old lego blocks. 

He thought the old action figures were fabulous.

Everybody on board and ready for adventure.

Before school the other morning Danica was hanging around before heading out to catch the bus.

Dani's 7th BD is coming up this weekend, so I am sure I'll have lots of pics to post next week.  Stay tuned.

Porch time

Another joy of spring, is porch time.  Makes the house seem so much bigger when we can open up the front porch, and sit out there with our morning coffee.   The kids love to sit out there before and after school too. 

Danica had to bundle up to be out there the other day, but she didn't mind at all.  She was groovin' to some music, and happy to be out on the porch.   Me too.  When it warms up a few more degrees, it will be just about perfect out there in the morning sunshine.  Yahoo!

The magic of Spring Flowers

It's coming. Spring really is coming, it's just having some trouble with its timetable this year.  To help sweep the winter cobwebs out of our heads during a snowstorm in March, we bring a pot of spring bulbs into the house. 

Now, don't you feel better just looking at a daffodil?

This is what was happening outside, but the pot of daffys brought spring sunshine inside.

Snow is melting today, but more of the white stuff might arrive tomorrow. Sigh!  I might need to add another pot of flowers to my shopping list this weekend.  I live in hope that I will soon see them in my garden. 

Worth a re-post

This being Poetry Month, I thought I would  re-post this blog I first posted in 2006.  Enjoy!

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Peace of Wild Things

In times of mind numbing busyness, it is oh so wise to stop what we are doing and step off the merry-go-round of life for awhile. I always have a poetry book or two handy to grab for just such times. When the whirling and twirling gets to be just too much and my head becomes dizzy from the spinning, I know it is time to feast on some poetry and then step into the quiet calm of the great outdoors.

I picked up a new book I got from the library the other day, Risk Everything, 110 Poems of Love and Revelation, and this poem oozed from the page and drizzled over my hot frazzled soul like a cool soothing balm. Ahhhh, Sweet!

Goodness knows we can all use a dose of cool soothing balm on hot dusty days of the soul, so let me share it with you too.

The Peace of Wild Things
Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.


This is my place of still water.

If you can't take your body to a quiet place by still waters, then close your eyes and go there in your mind.
…do not tax your life with forethought of grief...come into the presence of still water…rest in the grace of the world…be free.


MMMMMM, doesn't that feel good?